This is a history of the Irish-American experience, which focuses on religion, politics and Irish nationalism.

An evocotive tale of coming to womanhood in the disorienting 1960s-a girl in the world of nuns and the Holy Ghost-but on a deeper level, this is a story of a woman who has suffered unimaglnable loss and attempts to make sense of that loss by re-imagining her past and her own Irish-American heritage. The first in her family born in the United States, Maureen grew up the Bronx Irish daughter of two unforgettable immigrants: her storytelling, former revolutionary father, and her fierce, IRA-supporting mother. Crossing Higbbridge is framed by the accidental death of Waters's son and her struggle...

Breaking with tradition, this text argues that many of Beckett's texts are deeply involved in Irish issues and situations. It provides an understanding of Beckett's work in its representation of Ireland, of Irish history, and of Irish literary traditions.

This work applies Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of literary discourse and the concept of carnivalisation to the work of Flann O'Brien. The author emphasizes the political and social implications of the writings, arguing that O'Brien maintained a reflexive focus on language throughout his career.

In this anaysis of Roddy Doyle's first five novels, Caramine White argues that while Doyle is undoubtedly one of the most popular contemporary novelists, he also needs to be seen as a serious snd gifted writer.

John Redmond was one of the most influential leaders of Irish nationalism. A classic tragic hero, Redmond displayed more integrity than his fellow contemporary Irish leaders. He was a sophisticated intellectual with an open mind but was plagued by a fatal flaw - his unreasonable optimism. Redmond's trust in British politicians, especially his Liberal allies, led him and Ireland to the events that probably had the most impact on Irish history since the Great Famine of the 1840s - his active support for Great Britain in the first World War. It severely damaged Anglo-Irish relations for three...

In this compelling work, Rebecca Pelan analyzes religion, region, class, and national and ethnic identity as crucial contexts in shaping feminist consciousness in the two Irelands, and compares the divergence of feminist perspectives to be found North and South of the border. The very different histories of the North and South are reflected in their literature. While women in the Republic of Ireland have tended to write about social issues--"sexism, crime, unemployment, and domestic violence--"women in Northern Ireland focused on their society's historical tension and primarily nationalist...

The overarching purpose of this volume is to show how a discrete tradition of writing about Lough Derg helped contemporary Irish poets rescue, metaphysical inquiry from the grip of nationalism. Linked with the supernatural from pagan times, Lough Derg had by the early twentieth century become an icon of the fusion of the Catholic Church and the Irish nation. Surveying literary treatments of Lough Derg from William Carleton through Denis Devlin, Patrick Kavanagh, and ultimately Seamus Heaney, Peggy O'Brien addresses the role of spirituality in an increasingly cosmopolitan, postmodern,...

"Women, Press, and Politics" explores the literary and historical significance of women's writing for the most influential body of nationalist journalism during the Irish Revival, the advanced nationalist press. This work studies women's writings in the Irish nationalist tradition, focusing in particular on leading female voices in the cultural and political movements that helped launch the Easter Rising of 1916: Augusta Gregory, Alice Milligan, Maud Gonne, Constance Markievicz, Delia Larkin, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, and Louise Bennett. Karen Steele argues that by examining the innovative...

What does it mean to be of Irish descent? What does Irish descent stand for in Ireland? In Northern Ireland? In the United States? How are the categories of "native" and "settler" and accounts of ethnic origin being refigured through popular genealogy and population genetics?"Of Irish Descent" addresses these questions by exploring the contemporary significance of ideas of ancestral roots, origins, and connections. Moving from the intimacy of family stories and reunions to disputed state policies on noble titles and new scientific accounts and applications of genetic research, Nash traces the...